SLED confirms investigation into Rep. Cobb-Hunter following Goldfinch allegation
State Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter is now under investigation by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the agency confirmed Thursday.
The investigation came at the request of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Harvey Peeler after state Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, a candidate for attorney general, questioned an annual budget appropriation to the nonprofit run by Cobb-Hunter, the top Democrat on the House budget writing committee.
“I have absolutely nothing to hide and welcome SLED and anybody else, quite frankly who wants to look into this. I look forward to the process continuing,” Cobb-Hunter said. “I hope that Goldfinch and other members of the Senate and the House can withstand that same level of scrutiny.”
The nonprofit, CASA Family Systems, receives $350,000 a year from the state and provides services to people who have been affected by sexual violence, domestic violence, teenage pregnancy and juvenile delinquency in Bamberg, Calhoun and Orangeburg counties.
The money is directed through an annual proviso, or one-year law, renewed each year in the budget. It calls for the annual money be “appropriated for the Community Advocacy Program in the first Judicial Circuit,” where fellow candidate for attorney general David Pascoe serves as solicitor.
The appropriation has been included in the budget as an annual proviso since 2002. It started out at $175,000 a year and is budgeted through the Department of Juvenile Justice.
Cobb-Hunter, an Orangeburg Democrat, earns $134,000 a year as the agency’s executive director and reports $130,000 in income on her annual statement of economic interests.
“I stand by my SEI. I’ve done nothing differently than I have all the time I’ve been there,” Cobb-Hunter said in an interview Tuesday, adding Goldfinch, who’s been a state lawmaker since 2013, only pushed back against the appropriation because he’s running for attorney general.
Cobb-Hunter also did not vote on DJJ’s annual budget this year because of the potential conflict of interest.
